


Cactus in the Valley

by seven (sevenpoints)



Series: The Second Go Series [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canonical Child Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-19
Updated: 2013-07-19
Packaged: 2017-12-20 15:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/889097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenpoints/pseuds/seven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Wipe the mark of madness from my face</i>
  <br/><i>Show me that your love will never change</i>
  <br/><i>If my yesterday is a disgrace</i>
  <br/><i>Tell me that you still recall my name</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cactus in the Valley

Isaac was an excellent houseguest, to the degree that he was making Scott look bad.

The first time and his mom were gone at work at the same time, they came home that evening to find the kitchen sparkling. There was no sign that the pull-out sofa had been used, and every single rug in the common areas of the house had been vacuumed and spot-cleaned. The guest bathroom upstairs also looked like it had never been touched, but one sniff told Scott that Isaac hadn’t set foot in either of their bedrooms. Isaac himself was nowhere to be found until an hour later, when he came through the door bearing groceries he was going to use to make lasagna.

Melissa was astonished, and Scott was torn between amazement and sadness over why Isaac knew how to do all those things.

They wound up making dinner together, with Isaac sheepishly giving instructions after Melissa insisted he take the lead. The McCalls sliced fresh mozzarella and fried the eggplant while Isaac presided over the pasta and sauce, stirring in herbs and adding ground turkey once it finished browning. After it was all layered together and in the oven it smelled so good that Scott practically pressed up against the little window waiting for it to be done.

Scott set the table and poured juice for everyone so that Isaac could pass them heaping servings of savory, melty lasagna, rich with garlic and smoked sage. Melissa practically fell out of her chair at the first taste, not that Scott noticed while he was making his own disappear as quickly as Isaac could refill his plate. Luckily, they’d made enough that there were even leftovers for Melissa to take to work the next day.

He finished dinner with his chin propped in his free hand, beaming as he watched his mom thank Isaac until the other boy was blushing down to his neck and _reeking_ of happiness. He mumbled that he’d be happy to cook for Stiles and his father if they’d like to have them over, and Melissa lit up at the thought of having the kind of home that hosted dinner parties.

“But you know, you didn’t have to do this,” she added, somewhat belatedly. “You were always welcome to stay as long as you need.” She smirked. “Now you’re just welcome to stay as long as you _want_.”

“I didn’t--this was, um, a thank you. I just feel bad for barging in on you both. I know I don’t have to!” he said quickly. “I was--I just--”

“He’s being nice, Mom,” Scott said, putting Isaac out of his misery. “He’s nice, we’re nice, let’s just hang out and enjoy the niceness.” He stood up and collected their plates. “I’ll wash up. Thanks again, Isaac.”

Still blushing, Isaac left it at, “You’re welcome.”

+++

They made it through another twenty minutes of domestic bliss before the scent of blood tainted the air.

“I told you talking wasn’t going to work!”

“Maybe not if _you_ did it!” Scott tried to help Derek through his window, but if Derek was well enough to make it up onto the roof he wasn’t really surprised when he got waved back into his chair. Isaac lingered in the doorway, radiating uncertainty.

Scott sighed. “You’re not actually dripping blood on the floor, so I’m guessing it wasn’t so bad this time?”

Derek shook his head, and backed toward the far wall so Isaac could have a clear path to move closer to Scott. “Kali got a few swipes in, but Deucalion called her off since I actually did go alone this time.”

Scott wanted an entire plate of cookies for not saying _I told you so._ “So what happened? Do they still want you to kill your pack?”

“More or less, yeah.” Derek shrugged, or tried to. “I was hoping I could just volunteer.”

“For what?”

Derek cleared his throat. “For their pack.”

Isaac snorted, suddenly furious. “You were gonna ditch us?” he demanded. “You of all people?”

Scott could smell it now, the sadness that poured off of Derek and lingered near the floor, adding a bitter undercurrent to Isaac’s rage. “It was a trade. Me for all of you.” His head lowered, letting Isaac stand taller than him. “It’s not like I’m doing you any good.”

“No shit,” Isaac snapped.

“Isaac--” Scott began.

“No! I’m sick of this!” He started stalking towards Derek, stirring up scents until the air was swirling with too many emotions to track. “You show up and you tell me you’ve got the answer to all my problems and you give me the bite, and then when I can’t be what you want you start smacking me around!” 

He was getting into Derek’s face, eye to eye or maybe even a little bit taller, and Derek let him. “Then you finally realize how fucked up you are and put me in foster care, but the moment I start to feel safe you climb in the window, stinking of blood, and you want us to help you.” 

He snarled, and Scott could hear his bones shifting with the change. “You’re pathetic! We never even had a chance!”

Derek finally managed to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Isaac was on him before Scott could move, claws and fangs flashing, and Derek--didn’t defend himself, at all, beyond curling into a ball so Isaac couldn’t rip out his eyes, and Scott was so stunned that Isaac was actually managing to hurt him that he froze, disbelieving.

_“Isaac?”_

They all whipped their heads toward the door where Melissa stood, horrified. Isaac snarled and Scott finally snapped out of it, leaping to his feet.

“ _ISAAC!_ ”

The other boy froze with his claws still dug into Derek’s shoulder. They didn’t pull free until he staggered back, features melting back to fully human. Scott caught him when he collapsed, shaking, and for a tense minute there was nothing except the sound of four people slowly regaining their breath.

Derek was the one to finally break the silence.

“I’m all right, Mrs. McCall,” he said. He edged around Isaac carefully and showed Melissa his arms, already healing under the blood. His voice was calm, but Scott could see the tension in his shoulders; he must have been aching, just from the stress. “I pretty much deserved that, and worse.”

She swallowed. “All right. If you’re okay, I think you should go.”

“I’m going. I’m so sorry I brought this into your home.” Then, to his credit, he actually walked down the stairs and out the door like a normal human instead of going out the window.

Scott made a mental note to give Derek a hug, later. Sometime when his arms weren’t already full of Isaac. For that matter, he should probably hug Boyd and Stiles, too.

“Are you boys going to be okay?” Melissa asked, somewhat faintly.

“We will be,” Scott said. His mom still looked extremely worried.

“Are you sure?” She was looking at Isaac with fear and uncertainty, and Scott cringed, realizing this had only been the second time she’d seen a werewolf with their game face on.

“I’m sure. Isaac just needs a minute.” Then, silently so Isaac wouldn’t know, he mouthed the words, _Use the ash_.

Melissa nodded and backed away. Dr. Deaton had shown Scott how to line the baseboards of his mother’s room with a thin strip of mountain ash, like the counter he couldn’t cross in the vet clinic. With that in place, all Melissa had to do was close the circuit with a line of powdered ash across her doorway, and none of the wolves would be able to reach her. He didn’t really think Isaac was a threat to them, but it would make her feel safe.

He waited until he heard her door shut before he rubbed Isaac’s arm. “Hey. Still with me?”

“Why can you do that?” Isaac asked. He butted his head back against Scott’s chin, both for the comfort of contact and so he didn’t have to look at him just yet.

“I don’t know,” Scott said. “Because you need it?”

“I need, I need. Why don’t you need?” He gathered his long limbs so he could climb unsteadily to his feet, wobbling when he tried to do it without bracing his bloody hands on the floor. “You never even had an alpha.”

He’d never really thought about it that way. “Derek trained me. Stiles too. And, you know, I still need my mom.”

“No you don’t.” Isaac swallowed and headed for the bathroom to wash his hands. Under the rush of running water he added, “Not like I need you.”

“I needed Allison. I need Stiles. I need lots of people, Isaac. I’ve just been lucky about who’s wound up in my life. If I didn’t have them, I couldn’t be here for you.” He walked up to smack Isaac’s shoulder in a bro-tap but wound up resting his hand there, sharing a bit of heat. “And I need you too, asshole.”

“Scott. Come on, man.” Scott went up on his toes so he could look over Isaac’s shoulder and meet his face in the mirror. Isaac glanced away and continued. “No one needs me.”

“That’s not--”

“It’s true! I’ve always been a liability. From the first day you knew me, you’ve been saving my ass.”

“Dude, no, that is not your fault.” Isaac scoffed, but Scott wasn’t about to let this go. “It’s not! None of it has ever been your fault, remember?” He had a thought. “You know, maybe you’ve only been messed up because you’ve never really...meshed...with your alpha.”

Isaac’s ears pricked as he turned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you’ve always been kind of scared of Derek, right? And Derek’s always been kind of...harsh?”

“Derek’s an asshole,” Isaac said flatly.

“Okay, yeah, Derek’s an asshole. That’s not completely his fault either.” Scott paced a little as it all came together in his head. “Boyd’s always been like a rock, but he’s not exactly cuddly so he and Derek get along easily. Even Erica kinda liked it when he was mean. But you’re...”

“...Cuddly?”

“Yes!” Scott grinned, and was relieved when Isaac smiled too. “You’re nice. You respond to niceness. Derek probably picked you because he thought you’d be a good beta, and you are, but you haven’t been happy and it’s got you all,” he gestured vaguely, “um, less balanced.” That was a little better than calling someone unbalanced, right?

“That--makes a lot of sense, actually. I think the last time I really felt safe, Camden was still alive.”

“See! You didn’t need a big bad alpha. You just needed a bro.” He spread his arms. “I happen to be an awesome bro, if I do say so myself.”

“I could definitely do worse.” Isaac smiled a little, but he still looked uncertain. “I should...or, do you think I should apologize to your mom?”

“Honestly, I think she’d feel better if we just let everything calm down. It’s not like she’s not listening to everything we’re saying anyway.” He raised his voice on the last word, and they both heard Melissa’s _shhh!_ from behind her closed door.

They grinned at each other, but Isaac faltered, looking wistful. “What?” Scott asked.

Isaac shrugged. “I dunno, just. I was wondering what it would have been like, if we’d been friends. Before all this werewolf stuff, when we were just two guys on the lacrosse team.”

“Well, you actually played on the lacrosse team. I sat on the bench whining to Stiles.”

“Yeah, but still. I could have been friends with you guys instead of Matt. Maybe he wouldn’t have come over to my house that night, and maybe none of this would have ever happened. We’d still have our crappy little lives but at least we wouldn’t be fighting constantly.”

Scott took the time to think. There was no way to think of the past without remembering what Isaac’s father had done to him, and Scott couldn’t stand the idea of Isaac having to go through another second of the abuse. Still, he wasn’t going to bring it up if Isaac didn’t. “I don’t know, man, do you think we’d be who were are now without the bite?”

“Maybe not me, but I think you would be. If anything, the bite set you back for a little while.”

Scott shuffled a bit. “You know, you having all this faith in me is kind of terrifying.”

“Well too bad,” Isaac replied. “’Cause you’ve earned it.”

Scott stepped forward. “Hey, you’ve got some...” He raised a hand and wiped away some blood that had smeared under Isaac’s jaw, unintentionally tugging him forward by the chin. Isaac followed the gesture, leaning until his forehead bumped against Scott’s and rested there.

“I don’t care what color your eyes are,” he said quietly. “I’m your beta, if you want me.”

The words sent a tingle through Scott’s body. He might have been imagining things, but he thought he felt a little stronger.

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand we’re abandoning canon because I’m going to continue to pretend the end of 3x07 never happened. Title and summary from "Cactus in the Valley" by Lights.


End file.
